


Humans, 2049

by turnedherbrain



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-04 00:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12759021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnedherbrain/pseuds/turnedherbrain
Summary: In the year 2049, company agents patrol the city limits, keeping its human citizens safe from synthetics in the world outside its boundaries.But are synths really the enemy, or is the enemy closer to home?Future AU inspired by 'Blade Runner 2049'.





	1. Memory Bank

Agent Benedetti eased out of his body armour and began depositing his weapons into the long metal drawer, where they would be automatically inspected and returned to the cache, before being re-loaded for tomorrow’s use. As he swung the anti-synth jacket over his head, the electrical pulses packing its padding, his shoulder jarred painfully from a recently acquired bruise.

Benedetti was tired. And not just physically tired: it was more than that. He had a creeping doubt; a beginning of an understanding that he didn’t dare to uncover further. It had been the girl that got away from him today – he knew that. When she’d touched his shoulder… when she’d _gripped_ his shoulder. He’d had a momentary flash of what it was to be her: on the run, running from agents. It was akin to a revelation. He – empathised with her. He was struggling to hide this in his memory banks before he went in to deliver that day’s report.

Swish-swish went the doors softly, as Benedetti entered the report room. No other human was present, but there was a blank screen recessed into the far wall, an unblinking camera eye beyond that.

“Good evening, Agent Benedetti,” said a female voice. He’d chosen that voice to report to – it had a warm, friendly tone that made him think of family and home; not that he had much of either to speak of.

“Good evening, Lia,” smiled Benedetti. Even though he knew that he was talking to a machine, with a machine-generated voice, he still liked to think of her as human.

“How was today?” continued Lia, in her warm, soothing way.

“Hard. I got two – I lost two.”

“Well done on your winnings. I am uploading your totals to the company files. Now please allow me to access your memory banks so that I can retrieve today’s data.”

Benedetti shut his eyes while the scan took place. It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t that. He was concentrating on not letting that one memory – the memory of the girl’s touch that had so jolted him – slip through the net. He wanted to keep it to himself. He didn’t know why, not yet. There was just something telling him it was important.

“Are these the two fugitives?” asked Lia. A series of Benedetti’s memory images flicked up one after the other in front of him, suspended in the middle of the room like a compilation of stills photos. A man and a girl, both of them doing their best to outrun him, and then the girl had… “There is a memory blank at this point,” continued Lia. “May I probe to access that data? It may be hidden a level lower.”

“You can try, Lia,” answered Benedetti, pretending to be casual. “I think she might have hit me though – I blacked out for a moment. That might explain the temporary blank.”

“Do you wish to be sent for a physical examination?” asked Lia. He could swear that her voice modulated to imitate concern.

“No – no, I’ll be fine. I just need to get some rest. Get some r ‘n’ r, you know? Like in the old days,” chuckled Benedetti, faking it. Of course Lia didn’t know anything about the old days. She was a complex computer program incepted just over six months ago. She was a mere baby, and yet… and yet she knew much, much more than him. She was soaking up information in her cold, data-driven environment like a cactus drinks after the desert rain.

“Of course! Some r ‘n’ r…” Coming from Lia, the words sounded not quite right. “The company has generously agreed a salary bonus of 50 credits for the two synthetics you brought in today. The other two will be added to your roster for tomorrow. I will analyse the memories and put together composite visual and audio files on them. See you at 8am.” It was a statement, not a question. Although Benedetti, with the perfect recall given to him by his memory implants, could still not remember when he’d last had a day off work.

“Thanks Lia. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He made to leave and then, impulsively, asked the question: “Lia? Do you ever wonder: is there more than all this – the city, the hunting, the televids?”

“No,” was the monosyllabic reply and this time, Benedetti thought he could hear a cold, metallic tinge in her tone. No. Of course – no . He shouldn’t have asked. Idiot! That would go on his file, no doubt about it.

……………………

Twenty minutes later, Benedetti crossed the dimly lit street to his apartment building. Avoiding the looks and the company of other humans, he let himself in to the monolithic building. The key pass to his apartment took the form of a retinal scan.

“Good evening, Agent Benedetti! How many today?” enquired the door. It was a cheerful, lilting male voice. He’d selected that voice too, out of the four options in the set up. He’d liked it at the time; now, he couldn’t stand it.

“Two,” he replied curtly. He didn’t want to talk to anyone now, especially not a machine.

“Well done!” trilled the disembodied voice at his door, still not letting him in. Then its tone changed to sympathy, courtesy of the data packet it had received from Lia twenty minutes earlier: “And two that got away, I hear? Never mind – more hunting tomorrow! The synth population is finally under control. The latest figures show…”

The door finally clicking open, Benedetti escaped into his apartment. He wasn’t thinking about tomorrow’s hunt. He was thinking of the ways in which he’d spend that extra 50 credits on the televids that evening. His company televid account was already way overdrawn, but it was his solace from the reality outside. All he wanted was an escape, and the fantastical, colour-saturated televids provided that. He finally fell asleep, and dreamt of a gleaming white unicorn.

……………………

While Benedetti was resting, back at the company, the ever-awake Lia was compiling tomorrow’s hunt sheet. The two names at the top – the ones that had got away today. They weren’t synthetics: they were human. But they were fugitives. They were anti-company and for that reason, the agents would hunt them all the same. The blurred faces from Benedetti’s memory banks were half-obscured in the sandstorm dust. The audio was terrible. But Lia compiled composite images, and cleaned up the sound. In no time at all, she had two faces and two names for Benedetti’s hunt: Leo and Matilda Elster.


	2. Beyond The City Limits

Leo and Mattie decided to try and stay awake that night. They didn’t know the territory, and were both still shocked by their earlier encounter with the agent. Leo was nursing a gash on his side, and Mattie was flexing her fingers, viewing her fingertips in the gloom. She was impressed but also scared by the powerful insight they’d given her. The sandstorm was whipping up again, so they huddled together in the sparse shelter given by an upended car, holding on to each other for warmth and comfort.

They didn’t talk. They didn’t need to; all they’d wanted to say was already said. They’d reached the city limits and moved beyond that, to where they’d never expected to reach – the outside. If Athena’s dying message was true, then it wasn’t the desolate wasteland populated by marauding synths that the company said it was. It was something very different, with the potential to be far, far greater.

No wonder the agents were out here, extending their reach. The company was afraid.

They huddled together, dozing fitfully, until a hazy dawn broke.

“We’d better get on our way,” said Leo, stretching painfully. Standing, he offered her his hand to pull her upright.

“Are we close?” replied Mattie, her forehead creased. They were both beyond exhausted, after two nights running away from the city boundaries.

Leo looked up the map coordinates that Athena had entrusted to him. “Not far, Mattie. We’ll get there soon.” He was lying – it looked like another two days’ travel. But he wanted to reassure her that they’d make it. “We’ll need to keep an eye out for patrols. After yesterday, they may come looking for us again.” Again, he understated the ever-present danger they were in. They had to keep moving; had to hope.

After two hours of trudging, they saw a lone figure emerge through the orange dust suspended in the air. Mattie wasn’t sure, but it seemed as if the dust cleared a path for the figure as it stepped towards them. Perhaps she was hallucinating. Either way, the figure reached them before they’d time to stumble in search of a hiding place.

“Don’t be afraid,” said the figure as it approached them. It had bright green eyes and despite herself, she shuddered. This image, this synthetic humanoid, was what she’d been taught to hate from the moment she was born. Yet at that moment, a shaft of sunlight broke through the dusty air, and Mattie started to cry. From hope, from fear, from exhaustion. But most of all, because it was the first time she’d ever seen such bright sunlight. Leo drew her to him instinctively as the synth stepped closer and held out his hand.

“Please. Come with me, both of you. You don’t have to be afraid.”

……………………

Leo and Mattie woke up in a bed. Something was wrong – it felt soft, and comfortable, and the pillows were clean, and the air they were breathing was free from the choke of pollution, and there were no televids playing right in front of their eyes.

Out of habit, Leo immediately sprung up and checked behind every door, under the few pieces of furniture in the room, in every crevice. “No devices. I don’t get it. Synths are supposed to be the enemy. They’re supposed to be…”

“The green-eyed monster, I know. I always told you it was pure propaganda. Just keep watching the televids. Feel better? Here, have 50 credits. What’s that – you spent those on televids and moonshine? Here, have 50 more, and work to keep the scourge of synthetics down.”

Leo chuckled. He was used to Mattie’s sarcastic sense of humour, and her refreshing anti-bullshit monitor. “I know, I know. It’s just not what I was expecting.”

At that moment, the door to their room opened a crack. They both jumped and moved together protectively, like frightened animals in a pack. But the face that peered round it was smiling and friendly. “Hello, my name’s Flash. Don’t be scared. This must be very overwhelming. Would you like to see Safe Haven?”

Leo and Mattie nodded mutely, as Flash bent and deposited new sets of clothes for them on the bed. “Here – fresh clothes. I hope they are to your liking.” The pair eyed the clothes eagerly. After over two days and nights of dusty, sand-choked travel, the thought of putting on new clothes was akin to donning silk robes.

After touring them around part of Safe Haven – a mixture of low-level, green-carpeted housing with wind turbines whirring atop every roof – Flash led them towards one of the smallest dwellings in the compound. “This is my house,” she said, with a note of pride. “I live here with Max – he was the one who rescued you. Max doesn’t believe that leaders should have the grandest houses, or speak the loudest words. He is the gentlest of our kind, and we can all learn much from him.”

Flash motioned for them to step inside the house. In the entranceway, right by the door, a small posy of wildflowers stood in a jam jar. Mattie felt like crying again, she was so overwhelmed with new sights and sensations. “Are these..?” she asked Flash, nodding towards the flowers.

“Real? Yes, they are,” beamed Flash.

Leo held Mattie’s hand tightly. They were both thinking the same thing, but didn’t need to look at one another, or communicate in words. Neither of them had ever seen flowers outside of a televid. And now they knew that the ones in the televids were over-saturated facsimiles: poor replicas of the living, flourishing reality.

Walking into the living room, they saw Max sitting on a low couch, his head bowed and his upturned hands resting on his thighs. When he raised his head, he immediately smiled and rose to greet them: “I am glad you have rested. We have much to talk about, I know. But first I must ask you – what became of the human, Athena Morrow.”

Leo and Mattie cast a glance at one another – neither of them wanted to say. Max didn’t press them: he understood by reading their expressions. “And all of her work? Is it lost?”

“No – not lost,” replied Leo, happy to be able to give some good news. “She transferred the data to my memory banks, before she…”

“I understand,” continued Max. “And what do you think of Safe Haven?”

“It’s…” began Leo, then stopped.

“It’s so…” faltered Mattie before tailing off.

Max chuckled to himself. “It’s the exact opposite of what you were expecting? Did you think the green-eyed monsters would capture you? That synthetics are the enemy, working to bring about the destruction of the human world?”

Leo and Mattie shrugged. It was true – they’d been taught those tales in school, and the televids abounded with stories that started with synth attacks and ended with human victory.

“It’s all packaged-up lies, isn’t it?” cried Mattie, at last letting her joy slip out, unbounded.

“A way to keep humans in thrall to the company, feeding off the televids,” echoed Leo. “Mind control for the masses. It’s not the synths we should be fighting – it’s the company.”

Max was still smiling, although it wasn’t in amusement, but in reflected happiness at their understanding. “You are not the first humans to come here. You are not the first – and you will not be the last – to hold such assumptions. We are not the enemy. Your enemy is your own kind. Humankind.”

Max gestured for them to take a seat, both Leo and Mattie still dazed at everything they were taking in. Leaning forward on the sofa opposite them, Max asked gently: “May I ask – have either of you been modified? Standard company implants, add-ons, or anything that may leave a data trace?”

“I’m a hybrid,” mumbled Leo. Max leant back in surprise. “One of the first – possibly _the_ first. My father was David Elster. He… augmented me. I was a kind of experimental prototype. So I’m definitely augmented, but definitely not to company standard.”

Max laughed outright at this. He knew better than to question Leo about his father as yet. The whole world knew Elster, and of his reputation as a renegade. The synth community would be gladdened to have a hybrid in their midst – and an Elster at that.

“And I’m self-augmented,” declared Mattie, more boldly. “I built and programmed all my add-ons. I didn’t accept company standard because I didn’t want to entrust my personal data to them. This is my latest work,” she went on, holding up her fingers to the light, so that Max could see her handiwork. Woven into her fingertips was a network of minuscule wiring, like tiny spiders’ webs. “If I come into contact with a person’s implant, I can see into their memory banks without mounting a data connection via the company networks.”

“What Mattie’s saying is…” began Leo, absurdly proud of his ridiculously clever wife.

“… I just have to touch them with my fingertips, and the truth is revealed,” ended Mattie. “I did it yesterday, with an agent. It gave him a real shock too.”

“I think it may have saved our lives,” commented Leo, looking over at her again, and they exchanged a brief smile. “Well, that, and meeting you,” he added, turning back to Max. Leo had a strange sensation that he’d met Max before, like all of this had been played out already and they were somehow brothers from another lifetime. He shrugged it off – déjà vu.

Max stood as Flash re-entered the room, bringing bowlfuls of soup. Mattie’s was garlanded round with flowers, and she felt tears prick in her eyes again. Now it was Leo’s turn to be astounded, as he tried hard not to gulp down the soup too quickly: “Is this..?”

“Real?” smiled Flash. “Yes, it is.”

“You are no longer slaves,” smiled Max. “You are free.”


End file.
